No doubt Orange citizens will be greeting the lifting of the lockdown with relief. The past restrictions have been both a burden and a learning experience.
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One of the outcomes observed is the increased use and obvious appreciation of our parks and green public spaces. Such an appreciation was observed on Sunday when many flocked to Cook Park to take advantage of the lifting of COVID restrictions, allowing them to catch up with friends and family. There have been crowds at the park ever since. It is significant that they chose to do this in an attractive outdoor environment.
It is not too late for us to create a similar environment within the Bloomfield precinct currently proposed for sporting infrastructure. Although a significant number of trees have been removed, there is still potential for the remainder of the site to be developed to create a parkland setting, which is more appropriate to the needs of the community in coping with COVID restrictions. The provision of attractive parkland will encourage people to compensate for future lockdowns by getting out and connecting with the outside world.
We need parkland designed to meet the physical and social needs of the community impacted by COVID restrictions.
- Nick King
We need parkland designed to meet the physical and social needs of the community impacted by COVID restrictions. Designers of such parkland will have carefully considered the provision of an environment which provides opportunities for informal leisure and play activities. These need to be available and accessible to all members of the community. They need to have places within them that encourage exercise, community connection and connection with nature. The need to socialise and connect with nature is recognised as essential for physical and mental health.
It is therefore incumbent on our decision-makers and planners to use public money and public funds to provide land use planning outcomes that reflect the increased need for public green space.
COVID has changed our lives, perhaps forever. We have already had to change the way we live to cope with the pandemic. It is quite possible that we may have to make other perhaps permanent changes to how we live in the future.
One of the things we can do to adapt to our changing world is to have a rethink about how we can make better use of our public land to more effectively combat the threats to our health and wellbeing that are the result of our changing COVID world.
